A year after making a transition from Audi’s LMP1 program to Porsche’s in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Andre Lotterer will be on the move again to the FIA Formula E Championship for season four from 2017 to 2018 with the Techeetah team.

The three-time winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans winner is also a champion in the FIA WEC (2012), Super Formula (2011) and Super GT (2006, 2009); the 35-year-old German is one of the more successful open-wheel and sports car drivers of the generation and now takes up his latest challenge as the Formula E series continues to grow in driver talent. He’s made both one IndyCar (2002, Mexico City with Dale Coyne Racing) and Formula 1 (2014, Belgium with Caterham) start apiece.

Techeetah will welcome Lotterer in as it seeks a year of stability in its driver lineup following a roller coaster season three. Lotterer joins Jean-Eric Vergne next year. Vergne had either Ma Qing Hua, Esteban Gutierrez or Stephane Sarrazin in the second car this past year.

“I am honored and proud to join Techeetah to make my Formula E debut,” Lotterer said. “Formula E has been the most exciting motor racing series in recent years. Techeetah made a very big impression last season beating a number of manufacturer teams, and I am looking forward to working with JEV and everyone in Techeetah to start this new chapter in my racing career.”

“Jean-Eric Vergne and Andre Lotterer will form one of the strongest driver line ups in Formula E. I’m sure our two drivers will push each other to new levels of performance. Andre’s track record and experience with some of motorsport’s most significant factory teams, brings immense value as we push our own development in both the medium and long-term,” added Ivan Yim, Techeetah managing director.

“With only three test days available to us as a private team, we’ll be looking to Andre to adapt quickly to the format and car. The intent is clear; we’re putting a quick driver together with the team’s proven Renault Sport powertrain. With the all-new season 5 car on the horizon, we are confident that season 4 will assist Andre in being well prepared along with Jean-Eric to mount a solid challenge for the Championship.”

John Force is rubbing off on others – but probably not the way they or he would like.

The 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion has had spectacular motor explosions in each of the first three races of the new NHRA season, including during Friday’s qualifying for this weekend’s Gatornationals.

During Sunday’s quarterfinals of eliminations, Force’s teammate (and son-in-law and president of John Force Racing) Robert Hight squared off with fellow Funny Car driver Matt Hagan.

As the duo closed in on the finish line, both cars experienced spectacular motor explosions of their own – virtually side-by-side and nearly at the same time.

Hight’s car was the first to explode, tossing its body high in the air. A split-second later, Hagan’s car exploded, also sending the body flying.

Check out the NHRA video:

Hight wound up losing the race.

Hagan, meanwhile, and his crack pit crew rolled their backup car off the hauler, put in a new motor and went on to race through the semifinals and into the finals, losing to race winner “Fast Jack” Beckman.

“We had a pretty great race day, to be honest,” Hagan said. “I’ve never been to the finals in Gainesville.

“We obviously had a huge blow up in the second round, then to watch these guys pull the other car back out and put it together in the amount of time they had, then turn a win light on against Capps (Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps in the semifinals), then to be able to go to a final, it was huge and it speaks for itself.”

As for Hight, here’s his take on what happened with the motor explosion:

“I couldn’t see (Hagan) over there and it wasn’t like it was hazing the tires or anything else. As it turns out it wasn’t spinning at all. It kicked two rods out when it blacked the bearings in the crank then it hit the valves and blew up.

“The thing gave me no indication at all before that. What really scared me was once I got it under control and I look over and see his body is off his car. I am thinking ‘Oh man, he got gathered up in me.’ Then I stood up and looked and his injector was sideways so I realized he had an explosion as well. We are just lucky we didn’t get into each other.”

As for the guy who has had so much trouble in the motor department, John Force, he lost in the first round of Sunday’s eliminations to daughter Courtney Force.

John Force planned on shutting the motor off on his car at around the 700-foot mark of the 1,000-foot dragstrip, not wanting to risk another motor explosion – even though it meant a likely loss to his daughter.

Now John Force and his entire four-car team, including Courtney Force, Robert Hight and daughter and Top Fuel driver Brittany Force, will be off for extensive testing to try and determine what’s been causing the motor explosions.

“We have to evaluate it and go test,” Force said. “We’ll figure it out.”